COTTON HAMMOCK

$455.00

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The female artisans of the Yawalapiti tribe, indigenous to the Brazilian Amazon, are renowned for the traditional weaving techniques they use in their hammock-making practices. Some are created from the fibers of the buriche palm, which grows wild in the Xingu region, whilst others are made from soft, supple cotton. The latter are highly prized locally and reserved for chiefs.

Incausa works tirelessly to financially support, preserve and empower tribes indigenous to the Brazilian Amazon through showcasing their unique traditional production techniques. Vinicius Vieira de Vieira, the company’s founder, encountered Yawalapiti crafts for the first time on a sourcing trip in 2015, which has led to their work being featured by Incausa for the first time.

The first recorded contact between non-indigenous explorers and the Yawalapiti culture took place in 1887, when the Karl Von Den Steinen expedition made its way into the Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon. Whilst there has been ongoing communication between the Yawalapiti and the wider world since then, it is only recently that the tribe’s cultural artifacts have become readily available outside the community. The chief Anuiá Yawalapiti has learnt to use the post office at a nearby settlement and is looking to bring the wonders of traditional Yawalapiti crafts to the wider world, whilst sustaining his cultural heritage. He explains that for the Yawalapiti, hammocks are celestial objects, first made by the tribe’s ‘creator’, Mayutsinin.

The aim of Incausa, the organization that promotes these products, is to raise awareness, ensure financial viability and empower the indigenous communities of the Brazilian Amazon through showcasing their varied and wonderful craft practices around the world. The nonprofit organization invests proceeds from sales in local development projects and works with communities to ensure that the market exposure they get can lead to their future benefit, in creating opportunities for wholesale networks and overseas custom. Besides the developmental aspect of In-causa’s work, the hammocks of the Yawalapiti tribe are gorgeous items in and of themselves.

THIS ITEM IS ELEGIBLE FOR RETURN WITHIN 30 DAYS OF RECEIPT IF UNUSED AND IN ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION.